Regaining Lost Ground

Guest (Male): God has spoken and there's no need to constantly repeat Himself. Boy, that really helped me because Lord, I've already showed you, just wait, be patient. He's already spoken. God doesn't repeat Himself. He gave an example that was incredible; I've never thought about this before. When God created the Earth and the universe actually, when He said, "Let there be light," the next day He didn't go, "And let there be light, and let there be light." He didn't repeat Himself and if we were there we'd say, "Oh, this is glorious," until the sun goes down.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of this suffusing message titled "Staying Focused When God Is Silent." Charles Spurgeon once said, "The power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret. If a man can but pray, he can do anything. He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and Earth at his disposal."

Today, Pastor Shane tells us not to give up, but keep going no matter the pressure or doubt, that God is working on our behalf right now and is about to speak encouragement to the depth of your soul here on Regaining Lost Ground. You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here is Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: Prevailing prayer, staying focused when God is silent. Staying focused when God is silent. So what happened is I was in the Book of Acts, and Paul and Silas, they pray and they are delivered. And then I had a lot to share with you about what happens when God doesn't answer quickly. And of course, you can't talk about everything you want to talk about or we'd be here a couple days straight. So I have to save some of the notes, go through them, and save them for you now.

So yes, it is a topical message, but it's an extension from where I was in Acts. That's why we call it Acts 67, the next message in the Book of Acts, about staying focused when God is silent and it was on prevailing prayer. Prevailing prayer really lays hold of God and doesn't let go. And that's how, if I even look back over my life, that's how we get prayers answered: having the right attitude, persevering, seeking, not relenting, not getting discouraged, not getting frustrated. And it's the prevailing prayer, especially when God is silent.

Anybody have a situation where God is silent? Now, of course, we know He's not silent; we just open His Word. We know that, but there are certain times where we look, "Lord, I need to hear from You. Is this Your direction? Is this Your will? I need to hear from You." And so I want to pick up where I left off from that message. And so what I'm tying in here is prevailing prayer is often the catalyst of a genuine God-sent awakening. And I think we're realizing just how important we need a strong move of God's Spirit.

I mean, there's no hope in politics in California, Washington. Tomorrow morning, I'm supposed to, with some other pastors Jack Hibbs put together, we're going to meet Steve Hilton and talk to him and ask him questions. It's great, but there's no hope. It'd be much better than what we currently have because policies matter, leadership matters. There's not a perfect candidate; they're not running for pastor-in-chief. They're not putting perverts in office and they're not just letting everything go to waste, so that's important, but we need a strong move of God's Spirit.

So what we do is we get ready for "Rend the Heavens" that's coming up in October. I'm excited about this one; I think it's going to be hopefully one of the top ones we've had. But what we're going to do to get ready, and I made it applicable to all and not too crazy, it's not like everybody needs to go on a 40-day fast. That would be tough, especially water. I don't know how many would be able to fulfill that. So what I'm doing is Worship Wednesdays.

Worship Wednesdays, and again, you have the dates. If you don't have the dates, you can get them; there's just two this month of September and two in the month of October. We're going to meet from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM for those who can make it. If you can't make it, that's okay; come to the evening service. Go back to that Worship Wednesdays; we have the dates up there for you if you want to take a screenshot. So 9/9 and 9/23. It's not going to be a time of all of us praying; it's going to be corporate worship.

We're just going to put worship on and we're going to just worship the Lord. Oh come, let us worship the Lord, bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. And all the revivals I've read about, the majority of them, I can't think of one that began with preaching. They often begin with prayer meetings and the Spirit of God is compelled to ignite the area, ignite the church. For those who can make it, I'll be here. I'd even love to talk to you afterwards if you have prayer requests or you need anything.

We're going to come praying for healing, for revival, for the elections that are coming up, for prodigals, and we're just going to worship corporately and even pray corporately, privately. But we're going to set apart these four Wednesdays. And I would encourage you to fast on those Wednesdays. You won't die. We have a lot of extra storage; that's what it's for. And I threw it out there; we normally have October fast, but a lot of people said, "I can't fast in October and September."

So just the month of September and October, whenever you can do that, maybe fast getting ready for "Rend the Heavens." That could be between you and the Lord. Maybe on Fridays, maybe you go to one meal a day now and then, but you don't make it up later in calories. There has to be a starving the flesh to be filled with the Spirit. And God will honor that. Maybe some of you, I've written about fast before, I don't want to go into a fasting message. There's so many ways to do it, but in the Hebrew in the Old Testament, it means actually shutting the mouth.

So it's basically drinking water is what it, you could try that from morning to evening. Again, you won't die. Talk to your doctor if you'd like, but I'm pretty confident you'll be okay. So we're going to do that on those four Wednesdays leading up to "Rend the Heavens." And the reason again is prevailing prayer is often a catalyst of genuine God-sent awakening. I want to read this before I get into the message because it's been burning in my heart for three weeks, actually two weeks now.

It's in the book, the title is *In the Day of Thy Power*. I believe you have, it kind of pops when I say that word. That means the mic's too close, right, Kevin? So, 1956. 1956. And you have the insert. In the springtime of 1938, a boy in his middle teens, think of teenagers, he stood in a little schoolroom in a chapel in a small Welsh mining town. A strange feeling of awe and wonder filled his heart, for this was the very room that witnessed the beginnings of a great outpouring of the Spirit called the Welsh Revival of 1904.

And I've read a lot about it. Evan Roberts and then it sprang into the New Hebrides revivals about 40 years later with Duncan Campbell. It's just a powerful story of what God did. And so this young teenager, he listened to the guide, who himself was a convert of the revival. He spoke of those incredible days that the hardest hearts were melted by the presence of the Lord, when the hills and the valleys rang with the songs of Zion. It was almost too wonderful to be true, but it created questions deep down in his heart for which he could find no answer.

I have struggled with this question too the last few decades. If God can achieve such mighty things in times of revival, and if the spiritual labors of 50 years can be surpassed in just a few days when the Spirit is poured out, he wondered why is the church today so satisfied with the results of normal evangelism? In other words, if God did it then, why can't He do it again? Why are we not more concerned that there should be another great outpouring and awakening, revival of God's Spirit? Why do we not pray for it day and night?

Here's what's interesting on this topic. There's two views. Many of you have that I have: we can press in like never before, leave the results up to God. A farmer can't control the rain, but he can sure get that soil ready. And every time I talk about this, I get the Negative Nellies and Judgmental Jerries. "Brother, haven't you read the Book of Revelation? We're going down. There's nothing." That's not the right heart posture. God can always bring a revival even in the midst of darkness. That's the history of revival. It always comes at low moments.

So in those low, that doesn't mean America's going to be utopia. All hell could still break loose, but in the midst of the hell, there's a piece of heaven because the Spirit of God is being poured down. That's biblical, historical Christianity, church. And the other view is, "I don't know if that will happen. I don't really care. I'm doing good financially. I'll leave that to other people." But I think it's the group that presses in that really grabs the heart of God and experiences a spiritual awakening. And that word revival's been used, I mean, just have a meeting and you call it revival.

Revival, it can't be marketed, it can't be actually planned. You can't say, "This Wednesday, we're having a revival." That's not revival. You can prepare for it, you can pray for it, but it's when the Spirit of the living God comes upon a church or a group of people because they've prepared. It's in His time, not ours. Revival is the inrush of the Spirit into a body that threatens to become a corpse, from the book *In the Day of Thy Power*. Let me read that again to wake you up a little bit. Revival is the inrush of the Spirit into a body that threatens to become a corpse, spiritually speaking.

And guys, you know it. You've seen it. One of the hardest parts for me is seeing multitudes of people week after week, year after year, that they are dying spiritually. They're the frozen chosen. They're just getting to church, they're dragging in, they haven't led anybody to the Lord, there's no spiritual fire in their heart. Church is a checklist. Come tomorrow, they'll forget about God. Sure, they might put on some worship in the background, might get their little daily devotional five-minute study. That's okay, good, but where's the fervency and the heart for revival and intent seeking God?

Again, that's biblical, historical Christianity. We're not supposed to be bored in our pursuit of God. Anyway, we left off, I left off at Acts 16:25 through 26 and I won't get far into Acts because all the notes I had I want to share with you, but it says at midnight, remember, but at midnight, they were locked in jail. They weren't getting out. They had the cuffs on, the feet as well. They were in the inner prison. It was, there's no getting out of this. And I know you've been in those situations before; maybe you'll go into one someday, but you have to remember this first word.

But God. That changes everything. But God. Shane, California's going down, how can you stand to live there? But God. And did you know the safest place is the center of His will? I'm not called to flee, I'm called to fight. I don't know about you. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake so that the foundation of the prison was shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosened.

And the jailer and his whole family were led to the Lord, as I began to read from last week. But here's what I want to talk about this morning: but what about when God doesn't answer? What about if Paul was staying in prison? Instead of suddenly answering, many of us are solemnly waiting. Have you ever been there? I love reading the Bible, it's like, God answered, God answered, God answered. I mean, can you imagine, this is pretty brave. Elijah says, "Let the God who answers by fire, let Him be God." And he prepared the altar and wouldn't you know it, fire.

And then Elisha, I believe it was, they come to get him and he goes, "Are you the man of God? If I am the man of God, let fire come down and consume you." And guess what happened? Why doesn't God do that for me all the time? Red Sea parts. Many times, though, the suddenly happens when you need that sudden victory. If you're in the waiting time, it's not wasted time because God's not on our time clock. There's something to be done yet. There's something to be done yet. He will deliver suddenly when suddenly is required.

And your kings would pray the Assyrian army and they would wake up and the whole army was wiped out. See, it's these times when God must move that He will, but the majority of the time, it's a waiting season because we want deliverance now, healing now, comfort now, convenience now. Anybody pray because they want just better sleep and go to bed early and the kids? Just convenience. But how do we stay focused when God is silent? And that's why we need prevailing prayer. It reaches into the future and it lays hold of the possibilities, it lays hold of God.

And with prevailing prayer and getting our hearts back to prayer, another reason is the best method, actually the best, did you know the best defense against the enemy is not a defense? Yes, it's an offense, it's an attack. You go after him; you don't wait for him to come after you. You lay down the groundwork now, you build the foundation now, you attack with prayer. We're not supposed to wait and wait until he comes against our family and wait; we're in attack mode.

And what they, I like when Chad spoke, what I don't think he mentioned it, but they call it in military a concentration of force. You're concentrating your force in a certain direction. Bring in the Marines, bring in the Army, bring in the Navy, let's concentration the force. That's a Christian's life. We're not supposed to be backing away and cowering back and "Oh woe is me." We're supposed to take it and to pray and to prevail in prayer and to come against the enemy with the sword, the sword of the Spirit and prayer. And that's why fasting is so important. It adds that extra element that we need.

Carter Conlon, I don't know how many of you have listened to him, he took over David Wilkerson's spot in Times Square Church. I almost borrowed his title; it was called "Staying Strong When God is Silent." Staying strong when God is silent. And he brought up some points that I could not wait to share with you because this is where the rubber meets the road. God has spoken and there's no need to constantly repeat Himself. Boy, that really helped me because Lord, I've already showed you, just wait, be patient. He's already spoken. God doesn't repeat Himself.

He gave an example that was incredible; I've never thought about this before. When God created the Earth and the universe actually, when He said, "Let there be light," the next day He didn't go, "And let there be light, and let there be light." He didn't repeat Himself and if we were there we'd say, "Oh, this is glorious," until the sun goes down. And we're like, "Uh-oh, what happened? What happened, Lord?" Our eyesight is not His. Number two, it could be a spiritual battle, like in Daniel's case.

God was silent in Daniel's case. It was a spiritual battle, there were demonic forces at work. Nobody knows exactly how this works, but in the Book of Daniel it talks about demonic forces keeping back Daniel's prayers from being answered. And that can happen in our lives as well. Number three, interior resistance. Interior resistance: other voices are suppressing God's voice. So it might not be that God is silent; it might be that you're allowing louder voices to crowd His out. That could suppress His voice because I've noticed, have you noticed that God doesn't scream very often? What is it? It's that still small voice. That still small voice of the Spirit.

Number four, His silence helps to get our attention. How many of you have come back to the Lord or really increased your prayer life or really sought Him like never before when He was silent? "Lord, I need to hear from You." Think about if He was a genie in a bottle, or what do they call that, or just every prayer request, every this, every that. No, it's a process. And the waiting time is when really that's when character's developed. That's when faith is strengthened. Because what that is is really trust in God, is it not?

Without faith, it's impossible to please Him. And we trust, "Lord, I trust." When we get dismayed and discouraged and critical and start to doubt God, that's not a healthy spot to be. So the waiting time really positions our heart to where we can say, "Okay, Lord, I don't know, but You know, and I'm just going to trust You. I have faith. I have faith in You." And that pleases Him; that's what the Bible says. Number five, the silence might be a test. Anybody been in a test before? I love Psalm 105, I've shared before: "until the time that His word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him."

The word that was given to Joseph was that you will be above and not in a prison. However, he was in a prison. And it says until the time that that word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. Most people, mature saints of God who you see and maybe even see worship leaders up here, maybe you see pastors, maybe you see whatever and you don't realize what they had to go through to get there. One of the ones that's blowing up right now, my son likes him a lot and I'm glad of that, is Phil Anthony Mitchell out of Georgia.

I bet that guy's been through a lot to have that strong of an anointing. And you listen to his story and boy oh boy. Nobody knew him when he had 300 people at the church. And they see it now, "Oh, if I could just." You don't want that unless you're ready. New levels, a lot more devils. A lot more criticism, constant attack. And God will tell people, "That you'll be that someday," but there will be a test. Do you hold on even when all hope is falling apart? So waiting time, until the time his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. And I truly believe I know God's will; there's permissive will, there's perfect will, there's a lot of things. If God's going to want something to happen, it's going to happen. But there are things also to where I believe we can play a role in some of His will coming to pass in our lives.